Guilt Free Watering

Watering efficiently will ensure that you can keep your garden and lawn looking good while using the smallest amount of water possible. This page will discuss the issues and solutions.

Efficient Watering Issues

The following are some of the more common causes of water waste when watering gardens and lawns:

• evaporation;
• wind drift;
• over spray;
• over watering;

Evaporation

Evaporation is at its worst in hot dry windy conditions. Up to 60% of the water can be lost to evaporation. To minimise evaporation when using sprinklers, you need to operate during the coolest time of the day and when there is the least wind (in most cases is just before sunrise). Sprinklers which produce a thick stream/spray rather than a mist also reduce evaporation. Drip irrigation is much more efficient than sprinklers in terms of evaporation because it places the water in or directly on the soil.

Wind Drift

Wind Drift reduces the amount of water landing where you want watered. Wind drift also causes increased evaporation because it exchanges the moist air where you are watering with dry air. Low angle sprinklers and those which have a thick stream/spray get impacted less by wind. Naturally drip irrigation eliminates wind drift.

Over Spray

Overspray is when (to ensure you sprinklers fully cover your garden or lawn) part of your sprinkler spray lands where you don't need it. - eg paths and driveways. In windy conditions this is mad much worse, so the comments from wind drift above should be noted. The the most important issue for minimising overspray is to design your sprinkler system correctly. Simplistically you should always have your sprinklers pointing into your garden - 90 degree sprays in corners and 180 degree sprays along the sides. Our webpage on irrigation design provides a good explanation of this.

Over Watering

Over Watering is giving your soil too much water and is usually seen by water run off or water pooling. This can be caused by watering for too long (ie forgetting to turn off the tap), watering when you don't need too (ie during or after rain) or watering faster than your soil can absorb the water. It is easy to prevent watering for too long by using tap timers or ideally an automatic irrigation system. Watering when you don't need to can be prevent with a rain sensor on an automatic irrigation system. Water absorbtion problems are frequently seen as water pooling on uneven soil. This also results in uneven watering. Delivering water at a slower rate through more frequent, but shorter waterings or ideally through a lower rate watering method such as drip irrigation can resolve these problems.

Efficient Watering Solutions

We have discussed the problems now here are the solutions:

Automatic Irrigation System

An automatic irrigation system is a leave and forget solution to watering. All that needs to be done is regular checking to ensure that it is working correctly and seasonal checking that your settings are appropriate and that there are no changes required due to the changing nature of your garden (eg plants growing to blocking other plants getting watered). Some of the benefits of an automatic irrigation system are:

• watering at the most water efficient time of the day - not just when it is convenient;
• watering at the best time of the day for your plants (reduce burn or fungus growth);
• automatic switch off so you don't forget to turn it off;
• automatic watering so you don't have to remember to water or have to worry when you are on holidays;
• watering to you water restriction times and days;
• ability to harden plants (encourage root growth) through a steady decrease in watering frequency;
• automatic shut off during or after rain to prevent overwatering.

Our website has a large amount of information to assist you to create your own automatic irrigation system. A useful starting point is our irrigation design page. We also have a webpage which provides details on irrigation controllers and which water restictions types they support.

Drip Irrigation

Drip irrigation is an extremely efficient method of watering. There are quite a few different drip irrigation products with different characteristics. These can be found on our drip irrigation introduction page. Some of the benefits of drip irrigation include:

• reduces water consumption;
• exempt from many water restrictions - see our water restriction page;
• minimises evaporation;
• eliminates wind drift;
• eliminates overspray;
• reduces overwatering and water run off;
• provides more even watering;
• reduces plant fungal and insect problems (eg black spot) as it only wets the soil around the plants roots, not the leaves;
• delivers water directly to the root zone;
• safe for use with grey and waste water;
• not impeded by plant growth;
• reduces vandalism (no sprinklers to break off).

Again our drip irrigation introduction page has a good introduction to the products available. Wet Earth also sells a large range of drip irrigation products which can be found under drip irrigation in the left menu.

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